HP Pavilion M9060N Desktop Review

HP has a popular series of desktops entitled the "Elite" series. These higher end PC's come with a wide range of prices but the products falling on the higher end of that spectrum have seen better than average success. Because of this I have decided to go ahead and get my hands on the HP Pavilion Pavilion M9060N. This desktop is one of the best of the best and I'm going to give it a review. I'll let you know how it performs and what kind of consumer is going to get the most out of purchasing one of these.

Hardware:

Processor: a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q6600

Optical Drive: a Blu-ray and HD DVD ROM with integrated CD R/RW & dual-layer DVD +/- burner

Tuner: NTSC and ATSC

Storage Space: (2) 320 GB hard disks (for a total of 640GB)

RAM: 3GB of RAM (which can be upgraded to a total of 8GB)

Graphics Accelerator: an Nvidia GeForce 8500 GT graphics card (using a total of 1791 MB of available dedicated and system memory)

Fist of all I live that it comes complete with both a BluRay and HD dvd ROM. This means that you'll be able to enjoy all that the next generation of high definition media has to offer. While BluRay has won the format war there are still several titles on HD DVD that haven't made it over, and it will likely be a while. The TV tunner is an excellent addition and means that this desktop can literally replace your TiVO and act as a free DVR thanks to Window's Vista. The dual 320GB hard drives also mean that you'll have plenty of room to save all of those HD movies and television shows you'll be recording. The performance is great thanks to the powerful dual core Intel chip that HP has placed running the show.

Connectivity:

6 USB 2.0 ports for connecting a wide range of peripherals--from digital cameras to MP3 players (2 in front, 4 in rear)

2 FireWire (also known as IEEE 1394 or i.Link) port for connecting digital video camcorders and other peripherals (1 in front, 1 in rear)

Composite video input

S-Video input

S-Video output (this is a projector connection)

1 DVI output (this is a monitor / television connection)

1 HDMI output (this is used to connect the PC to a high definition television)

1 VGA output (this is a typical monitor connection)

2 audio out / 2 microphone in

Digital audio inputs and outputs

2 PS/2 ports (old school keyboard and mice connections)

15 in 1 media card reader (these slots allow the consumer to directly insert memory from their mobile devices into the PC)

1 56K modem connection (this allows the computer to use a dial up internet connection)

The connectivity is absolutely fantastic. I especially love that it has an HDMI port which allows this desktop to connect to a high definition television. Nothing is better than playing some high end computer games on your living room's big screen in HD. Currently priced at an average online retail price around $1700 this PC is coming in right on target. While I expect to see moderate price reductions thanks to the HD DVD ROM that is included I doubt it will see any significant drops any time soon. It is likely going to please all consumers. This would be an excellent family desktop, its powerful enough for the gamer and it is perfect for the office.